Goal-shy Peruvian Claudio Pizarro is ready to take any chance that new boss Luiz Felipe Scolari offers him.
Chelsea抯 number 14 only managed a meagre two goals during his debut Chelsea campaign, but this could be attributed to a large proportion of appearances coming off the bench with only a few minutes of match time left.
The former Bayern Munich front-man was surplus to requirements while Avram Grant was in charge. After the January purchase of Nicolas Anelka, Pizarro saw himself fall further down the pecking order at SW6 with Drogba, Anelka, and Kalou, all enjoying more playing time in the first team.
Despite reports in Greece linking the striker, who has 53 caps for Peru, with a move to the Athens based sports club; Panathinaikos, Pizarro seems adamant to prove his worth to his new Brazilian boss.
He told La Nacion: 揑 look forward to taking my chances with the arrival of the new coach, who is a winner.
When Luiz Felipe Scolari was announced as the new Chelsea manager during Euro 2008, more than a few people took for granted some of his favourite players would follow him.
As soon as the curtains were drawn on the continental competition, Portugal midfielder Deco joined the West London club.
The Barcelona playmaker did not have the best of seasons, in keeping with the rest of Frank Rjikaard抯 team, and while his Euro 2008 campaign started quite well, with a convincing performance against Turkey and a goal against Czech Republic, Portugal once again failed to fulfil their expectations.
More eyebrows were raised when the news of his arrival fuelled further speculation about Frank Lampard抯 departure for Inter.
The England international has only one year left on his contract and if on one side the club would love to hold on to him, on the other they don抰 want to risk losing him for nothing at the end of the season.
Player
Deco
Frank Lampard
Competition
Liga
CL
PL
CL
Appearances
18
6
24
11
Games Started
14
6
23
11
Minutes On Pitch
1229
503
1956
1019
Goal Attempts
Goals
1
0
10
1
Shots On Target
9
4
24
6
Shots Off Target
13
4
26
13
Shooting Accuracy
40.9%
50.0%
48.0%
31.6%
Chance Conversion
4.5%
0.0%
20.0%
5.3%
Passing
Goal Assists
6
0
8
2
Key Passes
33
11
43
30
Pass Completion %
82.7%
83.1%
78.9%
73.0%
Despite having missed more games than usual though injury, still Lampard had quite a good season. Chelsea ended it empty handed but again he left his mark with 10 goals in 24 games while Deco mustered just one strike in 18 matches.
If Lampard was more decisive in terms of scoring, Deco matched him for creating chances per game played and showed a better passing completion, a part of his game new coach Scolari is particularly fond of.
10 Things you need to know about Chelsea signing Deco
1) Anderson Luis de Souza, later nicknamed Deco by an uncle, was born 27 August 1977 in S鉶 Paulo in Brazil, but gained Portuguese citizenship in 2002. He is a deceptively small 5ft 9in tall, and weighs 11st 9lbs.
2) Sao Paulo super club Corinthians spotted Deco as a youngster when he was playing for Nacional Atl閠ico Clube in the Brazilian capital. He made two appearances for Corinthians but was rated too weedy for professional football and farmed out to their feeder franchise Corinthians Alagoana.
3) In 1997 Benfica brought the 19-year-old to Portugal for a trial, but again he did not make the grade and went to Benfica's second string Alverca. He did well and was close to going back to Benfica - but then-boss Graeme Souness did not want him.
4) Instead he switched to Salgueiros for a season before stepping up to city rivals FC Porto the following year, going on to win the Uefa Cup and Champions League under Jose Mourinho.
5) His nicknames include M醙ico and SuperDeco.
6) After qualifying for Portuguese citizenship during his time at Porto, Deco got his first Portugal call-up in 2003 under Luiz Felipe Scolari. And even though his debut against Brazil only lasted for eight minutes, Deco still scored a goal - a long range free kick - to help Portugal beat Brazil for the first time since 1966. He has since gone on to earn 56 caps and four goals.
7) Deco has history with Chelsea. He looked set to follow Mourinho to London in 2004 but instead moved to Barcelona - a move that put him up against his old manager as Chelsea and Barcelona became bitter Champions League rivals. And there might be some banter with his new skipper John Terry after this Nou Camp clash in 2006:
8) Deco is one of few players to win the Champions League with two clubs - for Porto in 2004, where he was named man of the match in the final, and for Barcelona in 2006. His 2004 exploits, when Porto were also Portuguese champions, saw him named Uefa's Most Valuable Player.
9) He is good friends with Portugal team mate Cristiano Ronaldo but Sir Alex Ferguson probably is not a fan after Deco encouraged the Winker to leave Manchester United for Barcelona. With Deco switching to London, the Barca recommendations will presumably stop. But he will still hope to link up with his pal for more fun like this:
10) Deco plays either as an attacking or central midfielder. FourFourTwo magazine once memorably described him thus: 'He may look like a lost boy in a Japanese comic but Deco is intelligent, focused, hard, arrogant, and a superb passer'. So watch out for skills like this in a Premier League game near you soon:
uh haloooo.. we do have youth player playing with the 1st tim arr...
jay spearing, hobbs, kapitan youth tim tuh apo namo.. maybe diorang appear in not more than 5 games.. and this year some of them have started to train with the 1st tim oledi
Originally posted by conan at 3-7-2008 08:49 AM
uh haloooo.. we do have youth player playing with the 1st tim arr...
jay spearing, hobbs, kapitan youth tim tuh apo namo.. maybe diorang appear in not more than 5 games.. and this year some of t ...
uh haloooo...(rindu la kat kau)
spearing tu haku tak penah dgr dan nampak pun
and hobbs, haevn't you heard, benitez is using him to trade him, crouch & pennant in any of their + cash bid
danny guthrie pun dah blah kan
dan sapa yg rafa nak bawak masuk => villa silva riera joaquin = more spaniards
Originally posted by ShadowChaser at 3-7-2008 08:54 AM
uh haloooo...(rindu la kat kau)
spearing tu haku tak penah dgr dan nampak pun
and hobbs, haevn't you heard, benitez is using him to trade him, crouch & pennant in any of their + cash b ...
spearing tuh aku pon tak penah kenal cuma dengor dorang2 neh sebut2 je laa..
ader players yg rafa put on loan nak bagi dpt experience.. and some of them tends to ask for transfer terus after loan period tuh..
kalo tgk yg kat youth tim tuh pon baper kerat sgt laaa yg boleh nak masukkan dlm 1st tim..
Originally posted by Nara_Gaara at 3-7-2008 08:30 AM
When Luiz Felipe Scolari was announced as the new Chelsea manager during Euro 2008, more than a few people took for granted some of his favourite players would follow him.
Originally posted by ShadowChaser at 3-7-2008 08:02 AM
tim ni macam real timfools & sengal je, youth player tu wat syarat je bukan nak pakai pun, bila dah grad terus jual diorang cuma akan pakai werl klas player je, dan werl klas player umur 1 ...
.. sbb kuase youth development smua under frank arnesen .. jm, grant smua x bleh usik sgt .. sbb tu youth x mnjd ..
The Mirror claims that Zenit St. Petersburg have accepted a ₤12million bid from the Blues, and that Arshavin will arrive in London later this week to agree personal terms and undergo a medical.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is desperate to bring in one of his compatriots over the summer, and is similarly keen to ship off mega-flop Andriy Shevchenko in the process.
New manager Luiz Felipe Scolari has already brought Portuguese playmaker Deco to Stamford Bridge and is supposedly eyeing Real Madrid winger Robinho, but Abramovich
Post time 3-7-2008 08:26 AM
